SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’m very pleased to welcome His Royal Highness here to the State Department. He is here on a very important visit, having already met many high officials in the White House and at the Pentagon and elsewhere in our government. We consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a close and strategic partner in many of the critical issues facing our world today. And I look forward to our visit.

DEFENSE MINISTER SALMAN: (Via interpreter) I would like to thank Her Excellency, the Secretary of State, for her kind words, which are very reflective of the relationship. And I am very pleased to be visiting the United States, which is a friendly country. And I was able to convey the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, to President Obama and other senior officials, and in particular, to my colleague, the Secretary of Defense.

Our two countries are friendly countries that share common interests, and I hope that my current visit to the United States will be a continuation of the excellent relationship that exists between our two countries.